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UBRARY or CONflf 

JUL 2 6 190 
DIVIIION Of OOUIMI 




Class Ft)n 

Book . V-^L^ <t» 



F LORIDA 

HILL COUNTRY 

. . . OR . . . 

1 Agricultural Attractions 



. OF . 



Leon County, Florida. 



TALLAHASSEE, 1898. 




Jlnnouncenient 



ti t^ 



'i^HVlfifV^ 1 r 11 

^|:HE subscribed Board of Commissioners of Leon County, Florida, present the follow- 



4v5niHtvl- '"§' pages to farmers, liome-seekers, tourists, capitalists and all others interested in 
the industrial development of the Tallahassee Country. 

The pamphlet is issued for the purpose of stimulating Immigration, and affords reliable 
information concerning the essential features and the agricultural attractions of the County. 

Original illustrations, specially prepared for this work, give picturesque glimpses of our 
lakes, landscapes, live stock, money crops, public buildings and Gulf resorts. 

The Board hereby extends an official Welcome to tourists and prospective settlers to 
COME AND SEE US, and to participate with us in the permanent fruits of the new era of progress 
now awakening hopeful echoes amid the verdure-covered hills of Leon County, Florida. 

John Bradford, Mii.es H. Johnson, 

F. T. Christie, Hugh Black, 

Julius Diamond, Chairman. 



state of Jfloii^a. 



Executive Department. 

Tallahassee, January 1, 1898. 
To the Board of County Commissioners. 
Gentlemen: 

It affords me pleasure, in aiding the good work of 
Immigration for the Tallahassee Country, to add my 
my word of welcome in the new descriptive pamphlet 
you are issuing. Could I sjaeak to each new settler per- 
sonally, I would quote to him words I delivered twenty 
years ago, after the war, words in which I emphasized 
the fact that no sectional feeling whatever should sepa- 
rate those who possessed so many interests in common. 
That we welcome every one, who, with honesty of pur- 
pose, strives to develop the agricultural and commercial 
interests of our county and state. 

Personally and ofiBcially I bid God speed to all who 
come with good intent, and I may conscientiously assure 
them, that in no portion of the United States can they 
find better soil, better climate, better opportunities re- 
warding systematic labor, and a more cordial welcome 
than they will find in Florida. I was once a farmer my- 
self, so that from experience I speak to farmers and say 
"Come South," and find here a new chance in a fertile 
country. In coming, too, you will find that neither creed 
nor politics interfere in the slightest degree with your 
becoming as wealthy and happy here as you are capable 
of becoming in any other community. 

Very respectfully, W. D. BLOXHAM. 




Immigration means the 
influx of new life, a 
"better chance" to the 
new comer, and improved ideas and methods to the 
State. It is mutual in its advantages, the new settler 
bringing capital and pluck, joined with trained 
capacity for work, while the country chosen for the 
new home affords every opportunity and stimulus to 
make that home permanent and attractive. 

History repeats itself, and every age has had its 
Promised Land. The impelling motive to immigra- 
tion comes as often from behind as from before. 
Making bricks without straw drove the Israelites out 
of Egypt, as much as the promised milk and honey 
of Canaan served to attract them. Pilgrim fathers 
landing on rocky New England shores, were less 
drawn by inducements of climate, and hoped for 
freedom of conscience, than they were impelled by 
memories of bitter persecutions left behind. Both 
Israelite and pilgrim encountered difficulties, yet 
pioneer pluck prevailed, and the moral of all immigra- 
tion is: Remember the ills left behind, and do not 
expect too much, at first, in any new country! 



florida 



^^ ^K# ^K« 





[LL FLORIDA— like all Gaul in the first 

lines of Ca:'sar — is divided into three parts. 

First, there is an Orange Grove Florida; 

secondly, a Tourist Hotel Florida; and thirdly, 

an actual Home-Seekers' Florida. 

Orange Groves, previous to a recent 
freeze, were the fragant and blooming oases 
in the midst of the widely extended sand-wastes 
of South Florida. 

Tourist Hotel Florida finds its highest expres- 
sion in Mr. Flagler's princely hostelries at St. 
Augustine, Palm Beach and Miami, on the East 
Coast, rivaled only by Mr. Plant's Tampa Bay Hotel 
on the West Coast, where wealth and art have 
lavished all that can contribute to beauty and comfort 
in a semi-tropical climate. 

Two millionaires chiefly control the development 
of South Florida, holding the railway and hotel 



systems in their hands. Still, they have successfully 
demonstrated what capital will do in opening up 
neglected areas of country, and their commendable 
efforts annually bring thousands of the wealthier class 
of tourists into the State. 

The actual Home-Seekers' Florida is a Florida 
where money can be made as well as spent, and 
where new comers possessing less capital than 
millionaires, can accomplish results other than orange 
grove speculations and the creation of mammoth 
hotels. Such is the rolling hill country, to a descrip- 
tion of which the pages of this pamphlet are devoted. 

Napoleon once declared that what France most 
needed was "mothers," and in a similar sense, what 
Middle Florida needs most is more home-life — actual 
settlers, purchasing possibly small areas, and by 
[ modern methods of intensive farming making for them- 
selves and their families comfortable, permanenthomes. 




''^5lW)ipriJJi?.U^^ 



gmmmmimmimmmmm^ Coming westward from 
I LEON COUNTY. | Jacksonville, or east- 
%fl)^TOWMWMWWWMWMWMMWMW^ ward from Pensacola, 
the traveler traverses the wide stretches of sand and 
pine barrens characterizing considerable area border- 
ing the Gulf. Observing from the car window the 
absence of farms and crops, he is tempted to wonder 
what people live upon in this apparently unproductive 



Suddenly, however, on approaching Florida's 
Capital City, the topography and general character 
of the landscape changes. The train plunges through 
deep clay-cuts, rolling hills outline the horizon, green 
fields and forests take the place of the pine barrens, 
cattle brouse on verdure-covered slopes, and the 
tourist realizes that he has reached a region almost 
resembling the green hills of Vermont. The 
appearance of the soil is also better, and chemical 
analysis shows that it contains all the nitrogenous 
elements necessary to support plant life. In few sec- 
tions of the United States are the conditions of cli- 
mate, soil and regularity of rain-fall equal to those 
found within the favored limits of Leon County. 




No more characteristic 
sketch of the approach 
to the quaint old capital 
can be afforded than that of Julian Ralph, published 
some time since in Harper's Magazine, viz. : 

"The neig-hborhood of Tallahassee, as it came into 
view, riveted our attention. Plantations, inviting- 
country-houses, dense banks of Cherokee roses in bloom, 
rolling land, a rich, chocolate soil, great trees whose 
foliage formed clouds of green — these were the objects 
that took the place of swamps, and the monotonous 
vista of slender pines straggling in sand. 

"We stopped at Tallahassee, and in the main street 
of the picturesque old town, we met what attuned our 
souls for all that we were to enjoy in Florida. It was 
the regulation summer maiden of the North that we 
encountered. There she stood, in white kid shoes, with 
white sailor hat on her head, ribboned with white satin. 
She was dressed in a blue sailor suit, trimmed with white, 
above which appeared a pert face, all sun-dyed, beneath 
a mass of wavy, nut-brown hair. She was so precisely 
like herself, as we all saw her the previous September 
at Narragansett Pier, that it was almost possible to 
believe she had been walking southward ever since, pur- 
suing summer like a song bird, stopping perchance to 
linger at Ashville, Charleston, Thomasville, and finally 
resting at Tallahassee. 

"Reaching our rooms in the cheerful hotel in the 



— 8 — 



w 



heart of the town, we found awaiting us a great shallow 
dish of japonicas, roses and violet blossoms. Having 
seen. an even larger tray of flowers at the office, we 
inquired whence they came, and found that they were 
sent by the ladies of the town to the ladies of the 
hotel. 

"The time spent at Tallahassee we never shall 
regret. It is a typical southern capital, with many 
land-marks and mementoes of a proud past. It is 
scarcely like any other part of Florida, but possesses a 
picturesque landscape, high, wholesome, and quaintly 
old-fashioned. The climate is as warm as any except 
that of the southern end of the State, and yet the face 
of nature is more like what we in the north are 
accustomed to consider beautiful." 

The Indian name Tallahassee is said to signify 
"Beautiful Land." The rolling highlands of this 
diversified lake region once made the red man's happy 
hunting grounds. Mammoth mounds may be viewed 
to-day near Leon's largest lake, where General Jack- 
son fought his last battles with the Indians. Here 
also are seen live oak groves of centuries' growth, 
with tree-trunks seven feet in diameter, and magnolia 
trees shedding their blooms forty feet in mid-air, 
attesting the inexhaustible fertility of these rich 
"hummock " lands and densely-shaded valleys. 



Early settlers from the Carolinas, Georgia, 
Tennessee and other Southern States, found their 
way into this attractive region in 1822, and sub- 
sequently Federal commissioners selected Tallahassee 
as the site of the State Capital. 

In ante-bellum days, wealthy plantations, tilled 
by slave labor, were spread throughout the surround- 
ing country, making the city the center of one of the 
richest agricultural regions of the South. 

One of the first railways built in the United 
States, extended from Tallahassee to the port of St. 
Marks, 21 miles distant, on the Gulf. It conveyed 
thither quantities of cotton, grain, sugar, tobacco, 
lumber and other staples. During the civil war this 
port was blockaded, but Tallahassee itself was the 
only southern capital never captured. 

A new invasion has come about, however, within 
the past decade. An invasion of new people, new 
ideas, new capital, new industrial and agricultural 
methods. New settlers from the west and north are 
slowly occupying the suburbs, and new buildings 
within the city itself, replace the sleepy-hollow style 
of architecture once in vogue. 



Uncle Sam has also lent a hand in the work of 
public improvement, and the new Tallahassee Post- 
office is one of the handsomest public buildings in the 
State. Spacious additions will soon be made to the 
Court House, for an armory, public convention hall, 
and county offices. A new stand pipe, towering 
aloft, furnishes an improved water supply from deep 
artesian wells. The Leon and St. James' hotels are 
comfortable, and their cuisines are supplied in the 
winter season with game, and fish from the lakes and 
gulf. Several new churches have recently been 
built, the State Seminary for both sexes and the 
Normal College have been enlarged, the public 
schools remodeled, and religious and educational 
advantages compare favorably here with those of 
larger cities. New stores and houses on modern 
architectural lines have recently been built, a public 
library opened, parks improved, a brick market house 
constructed, artificial ice manufactured, and a cigar 
factory is in active operation. Social lines are not 
strictly drawn, and the town life is essentially demo- 
cratic. New comers are welcomed for what they 
are, and not for their creed or station. 



Lake Jackson, Lake 
LAKE REGION. | Lafayette, Lake Hall, 
^Nff.WNmmi'fm!^ Lake lamonia. Lake 
Bradford and Lake Miccosukee, mark certain natural 
divisions of Leon county. Around the borders of 
these lakes are located the large plantations, private 
estates and hunting preserves. The rich bottom 
lands are cultivated in broad acres of corn and cane, 
the hills and uplands are white with cotton, while 
recently, choice areas are devoted to the careful cul- 
tivation of Sumatra and Cuban tobacco. Dairy farms 
are scattered throughout the county^ utilizing the lake 
pastures, where hundreds of head of Jersey cattle 
thrive on natural grasses, and steam separators are 
used in extracting the cream. Butter and cheese 
making pay better than almost any other industry, 
and Middle Florida is naturally as great a stock and 
dairy country as Middle Tennessee. 

Until recent times, however, it was not customary 
to divide up these large plantations, and the hap- 
hazard negro tenant system almost universally pre- 
vailed. 



— 12 — 



A new departure, inaugurated a few years ago 
on Lake Jackson, by northern purchasers of one of 
Leon's most beautiful plantations, led to similar sub- 
divisions of land into "lots" and small farms. This 
method gives the new settlers, and purchasers with 
limited capital, a better chance than formerly. The 
old system is being slowly superseded by intensive 
farming of smaller acreage, white labor and western 
ideas are coming into vogue, while the colored 
brother, from his hitherto secluded cabin, sees im- 
proved machinery and scientific cultivation producing 
results of which he never dreamed. 

^immMiimmmm<NijmmmA(^ The earth's soil is the 
I MONEY CROPS. | true source of wealth. 
^mmiwwwmiw^NwmNmfW!W^ and he who best suc- 
ceeds in wresting from nature's store-house that 
which contributes to his wants, is benefactor to him- 
self and to the world in which he lives. But the 
sweat of the brow, comes before the reaping of the 
harvest, and in every clime the laborer eats his daily 
bread by the same law, and in varying degrees of 
toil. 



Climate and fertility of soil, give the farmer ad- 
vantages in Middle Florida, not possessed in more 
northern latitudes. Conditions prevail here rendering 
possible a range and rotation of crops surprising to 
one previously accustomed to short summers and 
severe winters. Something may be planted well-nigh 
every day of the year, and from the great variety of 
seed and product, we can but enumerate the staple 
crops. 

jjWWywwwyvw«wvwwwwwwyvvvtA(W% Plowino- begins in Jan- 
i CORN. « « * I uary, and about the 15th 
%mNmNmmmwmfmfffmmff^ of February corn is 
planted, usually in the "bottom-lands." The yield, 
under favorable conditions, averages 30 and 40 bushels 
to the acre. On thinner lands less. Fodder is 
stripped in August, and corn is allowed to harden 
until October. Southern dent corn has large, full 
ears, and when shelled readily sells for 30, 40 and 
50 cents per bushel. The annual crop is about 
500,000 bushels. One of our illustrations shows an 
experimental crop of Indiana corn, grown the past 
season by a new settler. 




While corn is comings 
up, land is broken on 
^^mmimtmmmmmfmmm^ the uplands for cotton. 
About the 20th of March cotton planting begins, 
followed by the first cultivation of the corn. 

"Chopping-out" or thinning the cotton-rows, is 
followed by continuous cultivation during May (usu- 
ally the driest month); the bolls open in July, and 
picking cotton follows from August ist until frost. 
The yield is "a bale an acre" on the best lands, but 
averages very much less on lighter soil. Ginning 
commences in September. Cotton seed, formerly 
thrown away, is now enhanced in value to 12 and 15 
cents per bushel, and is greatly in demand for the 
manufacture of cotton-seed oil, for food for stock; 
and in the form of cotton-seed meal, it makes the 
best fertilizer for tobacco and other crops. The 
annual production of cotton in Leon County varies 
from 6,000 to 8,000 bales, raised mainly by colored 

labor. 

Our illustrations of "King Cotton," present 
scenes taken last summer on one of the Lake Jackson 
plantations. 



SUGAR CANE. I 



Sugar Cane is one of the 
most profitable products 
vrm/fmmimmfm^ of Middle Florida, and 
the Sugar Beet is also successfully grown. Cane is 
planted from cuttings in February, and also repro- 
duces itself from the roots. It requires a good soil, 
grows rapidly, and is harvested in November. The 
yield of syrup averages 300 gallons to the acre, 
and sells for 30 and 40 cents per gallon. About 
5,000 barrels of Cane Syrup and 7,000 lbs. of Sugar 
comprise the usual crop, which could easily be 
quadrupled. 



I TOBACCO. <« 




The culture of Tobacco 
is at once a new and 
old industry in Florida. 
Before the war it was a staple crop, but subsequently 
declined. Recently the Cuban war, and increased 
tariff duties, have stimulated its production. The 
large cigar factories of Ybor City, near Tampa, and 
northern buyers, create an increasing demand for the 
finer grades of fillers and wrappers. Middle Florida 
raises Cuban and Sumatra tobacco successfully, and 



these varieties do not compete with the coarser grades 
of the Middle States, for the latter supply a totally 
different market. 

Burning ground for seed beds begins in February, 
and the young plants are carefully watered in dry 
weather. Settings are made in April and May, 
according to season. Cotton seed meal is the best 
and safest fertilizer Cultivating, topping, suckering 
and worming occupy six weeks or more, and in July 
the first crop is primed or speared, and safely housed 
in the well-ventilated barn. A second or "sucker- 
crop" may be gathered some weeks later, the leaves 
of which, if perfect, make a fine grade of wrapper; 
600 lbs to the acre is a fair yield. A genuine crop 
of Cuban leaf wrapper tobacco, successfully cured and 
sweated, is the most profitable product the farmer can 
raise. But to render his crops marketable at the 
highest price, a packing and curing house is a public 
necessity. Bids for his tobacco-leaf unsweated, 
range from 20 to 40 cents per pound; while the same 
crop, successfully cured, will readily find purchasers 
at $1.00 and $1.35 per pound. The necessity of a 
curing process is therefore apparent. Leon County's 
crop for 1897 was about 50,000 lbs. 



Viww«wwwwvwvrtvtfwwwvrt^ ^QYy=pg^§ follow 

Grain and Forage. I tobacco, or other 

%iWAWWWMWWWW^MWv«AWAWA^M)VWW# early crops, on the 
same land, and are ploughed in the last of August. 
They are prolific and valuable not only as food for 
stock, but as a renovator of worn land. Fifteen 
bushels an acre is a fair yield, selling in the spring for 
50 cents per bushel. 

RUTA=BAQAS or other turnips, are planted in 
August, grow to a large size, sell readily, and are 
used for dairy stock. 

SWEET POTATOES are set out in cuttings, pro- 
ducing fifty to one hundred bushels to the acre, bring- 
ing 25 to 50 cents a bushel. Nearly 300,000 bushels 
are raised yearly in the county. 

SORQHUM CANE and cat-tail millet, are sown in 
April, and continually cut as green forage all summer. 

PEANUTS or grounds peas, together with chufas, 
are extensively used for fattening hogs in the fall. 
Over 40,000 bushels are produced. 

GERMAN MILLET is harrowed in early, cut in 
July, yielding three tons to the acre, and is followed 
by a spontaneous growth of crab-grass, yielding two 
tons to the same acre. 



1 3 7 7 - C/^, 




iCii 



RICE. Upland rice is successfully grown, but 
this staple has not yet received the attention its im- 
portance deserves, and the County scarcely produces 
over seven hundred bushels. 

OATS. Rust-proof oats are planted from October 
until February, require good soil, and are harvested 
in the spring, yielding twenty-five bushels to the acre. 

RYE. Southern rye is sown in November, serves 
as winter grazing for stock, grows rapidly in spring 
when on good land, is cut and threshed in May, 
yielding only twelve to fifteen bushels to the acre, but 
retails at $2.00 a bushel and upwards. Less rye than 
oats are raised, the latter crop averaging about 70,000 
bushels. 

HAY. Desmodium, crab-grass, crow-foot, sedge, 
smut-grass, Bermuda, Japan clover and other varie- 
ties of native grasses grow spontaneously and abun- 
dantly, and there is no reason why "hay" should not 
eventually lead in the list of Leon County's products, 
as it does in the statistical reports of Northern States. 
Even blue grass, timothy and red clover can be 
raised in sheltered and shady spots, while white 
clover runs wild over the clay hills. But what these 



famous grasses are to Kentucky and Tennessee, 
Desmodium, or "beggar-weed," is capable of becoming 
to Middle Florida, whenever the farmers once learn 
to cultivate, cure and bale it. 

DESMODIUM is a delicate, feathery plant, grow- 
ing rank and tall, with small leaves having a decidedly 
sweetish taste. Its seed is always in the ground, 
especially in the rich loam of the bottom lands, and it 
springs up spontaneously in July, after the last plow- 
ing of corn. Cattle prefer it to the corn itself, and in 
the late summer fatten upon it rapidly. With care, 
it is cut and cured, baled up like hay, and sells readily 
at a good price. It might better be called a species 
of clover, to distinguish it from an undesirable name- 
sake found in the Western States. "Beggar- weed'' 
possesses a long tap-root, enabling it to become a 
most valuable renovator of the soil. Chemical analy- 
sis shows the plant to be richer in albuminoids and 
nitrogenous elements than red clover, and to possess 
considerable phosphoric acid and potash. Ploughed 
under at the proper season, it rivals the best com- 
mercial fertilizer. In the picture, young desmodium 
is shown in its early stage. 



— 20 — 



itd 



DAIRYING. 



%MWWWMWWMMMWWMMWMWff 



The lake region of Leon 
County, is now the rec- 
ognized section of the 



most profitable stock and dairy farms of the State. 
The splendid pasturage, copious springs, running 
brooks, adaptability of soil to forage crops, abundance 
of shade trees, variety of nutritious grasses, and tem- 
perate climate, all combine to make this lake region 
what a recent conservative Scotch settler calls, "the 
paradise of stock raising!'' 

Natural advantages, added to increasing demand 
for dairy products through neighboring states, and 
the demand for new milch cows to supply milk and 
cream to winter hotels in South Florida, have con- 
tributed towards the rapid development of this indus- 
try during the past few years. The general introduc- 
tion of centrifugal separators, proving that any quan- 
tity of milk may be expeditiously handled in a warm 
climate, has materially aided the result. Old methods 
of dairying have been superseded by processes 
at once more convenient, scientific and profitable. 

BUTTER AND CHEESE. Shipments of butter have 
largely increased, and special brands are eagerly 



sought by the trade. Monthly shipments now aver- 
age 3,500 lbs., selling at 20 cents per lb., while home 
consumption brings the aggregate production to 
5,000 lbs. per month. Cheese making is also suc- 
cessfully conducted at the large dairies. The product 
is of fine flavor, readily marketable, and this branch 
of the industry is capable of indefinite extension, 
being more profitable than butter. 

^mmmiMmMtMi'MimNmi'i^u)!^ jersey cattle are best 
I STOCK RAISING I ^^^Pted to Florida, but 
%MWMWAWMWWMWMWMMMWWW^ Durham also do well. 
Good herds are built up by grafting finer grades upon 
cheaper native stock. Short horns have been brought 
here from Tennessee, but require special care. 
Good beef cattle are raised however, and fattening 
steers for winter market is a sure source of profit. 
New milch cows bring a good price in the fall. Leon 
County is the recognized source of the best registered 
cattle and dairy stock in the State. 

SHEEP. Sheep raising has languished of late 
years, but naturally the country is specially adapted 
to it. Merino and South Down varieties both do 



V'*S 




well, and the Angora goat also thrives. Spring lamb 
and mutton are in demand, and the price of wool fol- 
lows the tariff. With proper care the industry can 
be conducted with profit, provided depredatory dogs 
are exterminated and fence laws are respected. 

HORSES. Thoroughbred horses are successfully 
raised, and breeding stables compare favorably with 
those of Middle Tennessee. "Brimstone, ' a stallion 
of the famous Wilkes- Hambletonian pedigree, is a 
recent acquisition to the county. A racing track for 
exercising and training valuable horses during the 
winter season, is now in course of completion. 

MULES. Spanish Jacks and brood mares have 
been brought from the blue grass region, and the 
raising of mules has proved itself a financial success. 

HOQS. Poland-China and Berkshire hogs grow 
to large size, and fatten rapidly on ground-peas, cane 
and corn, for fall killing. Good pork is always in 
demand and sells readily. Roving ' 'razor-backs" are 
not as much in evidence as formerly, and Florida- 
cured hams may yet be made to rival the celebrated 
brands of "Old Virg-inie." 



jrtwwwwwtfywywwrtwwwrtvwwwwvwwwvwwww% Fruit Culture 

I Fruits and Vineyards. I is stiii in its 
fffmmfffmwfWWfmmvffMWffmmmm^ experimental 
stage. The frost line has already changed its base, 
and orange groves only come to maturity in lower 
latitudes. Le Compte, Keifer and Sand Pears, bear 
prolifically and supply an early market. The peach, 
plum, and Japan persimmon do well; the latter grows 
luxuriously and has a rich, fine flavor. With peaches, 
careful nurture is necessary, and the varieties that do 
best are the Elberta, Thurber, Pallas, Pinto early and 
Florida Crawfords. Figs, palatably preserved, are 
the finest fruit in Middle Florida. The smaller varie- 
ties ripen early, and the large Smyrna fig in mid- 
summer. Canning factories are needed for this 
delicious product as well as for other fruits and vege- 
tables. Pecan trees grow rapidly, bear prolifically, 
and the "paper-shell" variety is particularly profitable. 
VINEYARDS. Wine-making has been demon- 
strated a success at the San Louis VineyarJs, and 
Florida Sauterne, port, and claret, have already a 
national reputation. The Scuppernong grape grows 
_L to perfection, also the Concord and Catawba. 



— 24- 



# 



0iMJmimiiiMJ^mmiMN<miimi4mNm^ A note-worthy fea- 
I Rotation of Crops. | ture of Florida farm 
\*mwN'mNmmmfffffmffffWwmmf0 ing. and the first les- 
son to be learned by a new-comer, is the succession 
and rotation of crops. 

In the north, Spring is synonymous with sowing, 
Summer with growing, and Fall with harvesting, 
followed by the grim grip of winter, when the land 
and the laborer are at rest. In Florida, on the con- 
trary, there is scarcely a month in the year in which 
the plow may not be started for some special crop 
adapted to the particular season. Potatoes and early 
truck, for example, may be planted before Christmas; 
staple crops in the spring; cow-peas, and other forage 
crops, in the summer; winter gardens in August, while 
the fall is the time to plant rye, oats and other grain. 

A new comer, arriving in October and Novem- 
ber, may begin plowing and planting at once, without 
waiting for spring thaw or the snow to melt. In short, 
if the farmer's energy in Florida were only commen- 
surate with his opportunity, the earth would scarcely 
cease yielding its increase, and crop would follow crop 
in well-nigh endless succession. 



VrtWrtVWWtfWWy%. Taxes are 

Taxes and Land Tenure. | compara 

"^fmmmfB^ffmmffmffmmffmfffffmfmfmmffm^ tively light 
and are less in Leon than in other counties. 
Road taxes may be slightly increased as public senti- 
ment on the necessity of good roads improves. Land 
is not as generally tied up in mortgages as in many 
sections of the west. The taxable property of Leon 
Countyfor 1897. shows a valuation of $2,166,165.00. 
City property is valued at $856,000.00, and rates 
high, and suburban lots and lands vary from $25 00 
to $50.00 an acre. 

The price and rentals of land certainly form no 
barrier to intending settlers when compared with 
prices and rentals elsewhere. Good farming lands are 
purchased at $10. 00 an acre, and uncleared lands for 
considerably less. Within a radius of six or seven 
miles from Tallahasse, lands suitable for immediate 
cultivation can be rented for a dollar an acre or its 
equivalent. 

Where else in the United States do such prices 
prevail on lands as fertile and as accessible to the 
markets as these? 



^WrtWrtWViMfi«W»tWrfyvwwv.wyvwwwwww% Xhe southern negro 
I The Negro Problem. | is not the bete noire 
%WWWMWMWWMWWMWWWMWWWW^ some people imag- 
ine, after reading harrowing tales of recent lynchings. 
Human nature is the same in the South as elsewhere, 
and similar causes sometimes produce a noose in 
Florida as well as in Ohio. But the negro in general 
is not a vicious creature, and is usually as meek and 
docile as his mule. He may be ignorant and at times 
impulsive, but he is faithful to trust placed in his hands, 
as evidenced in the civil war, when "master" was 
away, and wife and daughters were temporarily at his 
mercy. Former slaves disciplined as they were by 
years of servitude, are still the most reliable and re- 
spectful. Modern instances of lawlessness spring from 
the unbridled "under-brush" (as a colored auntie calls 
these youths) who have grown up "since the sur- 
render." Good servants are not lacking to relieve 
the house-wife of much drudgery, and competent farm 
laborers can be had at fifty cents a day. Country life 
is scarcely more exposed than city life, and wives, 
daughters and sisters, are as safe in Leon County, as 
in any other farming community. 



^WMiimimMmimmmtmimi^ The Gulf breeze is the 
I CLIMATE. • I great climatic attraction 
'%mmmmwmmNmfNmffNm^ of Middle Florida. Morn- 
ing and evening it springs up from the Mexican sea, 
passing over a whole county of resinous pines, gath- 
ering ozone and balsamic qualities in its course, and 
arriving at the foot-hills of Leon, laden with health- 
giving comfort to all. To the farmer in the field, 
to the merchant at his desk, and to the traveler on 
the hotel porch, it comes when most needed, rendering 
daily toil endurable, and the hours of sleep refreshing. 
"This CLIMATE is what surprises me," exclaimed a new- 
comer recently, "for although these mid-summer 
days are sometimes hot, yet the air is always stirring, 
and the evenings are always cool." The daily maxi- 
mum range of the thermometer runs from 90 to 95 
degrees for a few hours only, and the mercury in hot 
weather usually stays in the eighties. Although the 
warm season is continuous it is not excessive. Dur- 
ing the winter an occasional "cold wave" from the 
north brings the thermometer down to 32 degrees or 
a little lower, but this only lasts a day or two, and 
the warm breezes soon re-assert themselves. 



-28 — 



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^^^vwywwwwwwwwvvwwwywyw^tfw^yvvw^wy)^ Pt-oximity to the 

I GULF RESORTS. | g^lf is one of the 
^^WWMWWMWflWWWWWM'MWWAWW^ essential features of 
Tallahassee's past and future prosperty. St. Mark's 
was formerly a shipping point for all of its staple pro- 
ducts. Carrabelle is destined to become the chief port 
of Southern Georgia and Middle Florida. The recent 
completion of the Carrabelh', Tallahassee & Georgia 
R. R. has also rendered accessible several delightful 
resorts on the gulf. When this new road is completed 
northward to Thomasville, the long desired connect- 
ing-link will be established, and the Tallahassee 
Country will become a centre of tourist travel, and of 
industrial development exceeding the hopes and 
dreams of the "oldest inhabitant." 

CARRABELLE. The harbor has been deepened by 
United States Government appropriation, and the 
town, which is a terminal of the C. T. & G. R. R., is 
now the natural port of Tallahassee. Connecting 
steamer lines run to Mobile and Appalachicola. Lum- 
ber and naval stores are shipped to European ports 
direct. Large saw mills are located here, and 
thousands of barrels of rosin and turpentine, fill the 
wharves and warehouses. 



LANARK. A few miles east of Carrabelle the 
R. R. Company has erected a large hotel facing the 
gulf, and furnished with all modern improvements. 
The pine grove, fresh spring water, bathing houses and 
broad promenade pavilion, add to the attractiveness 
of this sea side resort, which together with the R. R. 
is owned and managed by the Clark Syndicate. 

ST. TERESA. Situated on a ridge, still further 
eastward and facing directly on the open sea, is the 
old and familiar resort of Tallahasseans — St. Teresa. 
A few cottages with a storm-beaten hotel are built on 
the bluff. The bathing beach is the best on the coast, 
and successful deep sea fishing is found in the channel. 

PANACEA SPRINGS. Located at the head of 
Dickinson Bay are mineral springs, long known as 
possessing valuable medicinal qualities in kidney and 
stomach disorders. The completion of the railroad 
and the recent purchase and improvement of the place 
by a northern capitalist, including the building of a 
comfortable hotel, have rendered this sanitary resort 
accessible and popular. The medicinal virtues of 
these waters make the place one of the chief and 
growing health resorts of Middle Florida. 



•30- 



Tourist Travel. 





Most of the winter tour- 
ist travel patronizes the 
mammoth hotels of the 
East Coast and of South Florida. Still an increasing 
class of tourists prefer the quiet restfulness of Leon 
County to the rush and gaiety of fashionable hott 1- 
life elsewhere. Some visitors purchase plantations, 
or country seats, and settle down for permanent resi- 
dence. Others return each season, to enjoy the hunt- 
ing and fishing around Leon's lakes and on the 
neighboring Gulf coast. Health and recreation are 
sought and found amid the hills of the Tallahassee 
country, and at the resorts and mineral springs ad- 
joining. On Dickinson Bay wild geese are plentiful, 
and the bayous abound in wild duck and Jack-snipe, 
while in the piney woods bordering the Gulf the 
hunter finds fiocks of wild turkeys, abundance of quail 
and occasionally a deer or a black bear. Game pre- 
serves are among the essential features of Leon 
County, and the splendid hunting and fishing are 
strong attractions to lovers of the gun and rod. 
Sportsmen will find the winter season preferable both 
for game and for the Gulf fishing. 




Tourists and home- 
seekers coming from 
Chicago and the 
Northwest to Tallahassee, will find the Evansville Route 
most direct. Trains leaving Chicago in the evening 
arrive at Nashville early the next morning. Thence 
the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Ry. via. 
Lookout Mountain, runs in one day to Atlanta. Close 
connection is made here with the Central of Georgia 
Ry, for Macon , and thence via, the Georgia Southern 
& Florida R. R, to Tifton, or Lake City, and the 
Plant System to Jacksonville. Prom either point, 
Lake City or Jacksonville, the Florida Central and 
Peninsular R, R. runs through to Tallahassee. At 
River Junction, also, this road connects with the entire 
L. & N. system. From New York and Washington 
the Southern Ry. connects with the F. C. & P. R. R. 
at Jacksonville. 

On the dates of "Home-Seekers' Excursions" 
(advertised by south- bound railroads) through tickets 
may be had at reduced rates from all principal points 
to Tallahassee. 



-32- 




MAP OF THE TALLAHASSEE HILL COUNTRY. 



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014 433 822 4 



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